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I would be interested in finding out what other's teaching/belief is about the Saints departed from this existence.

I mentioned earlier that I have been told by some that they are sleeping or asleep, something akin to that.

I don't really know the official Calvinist position.

The Catholic position has been pretty well spelled out, so I'd appreciate hearing the Protestant view.

I would be interested in finding out what other's teaching/belief is about the Saints departed from this existence

Apostolic Churches teach that the souls are alive and conscious after physical death. They even "feel" and "see" and "hear" and understand our prayers, but it is not clear how -- given that modern science has established that our senses are intimately tied to our bodies' sense preceptors.

No body, no senses! But, maybe, just maybe, this is not entirely true. However, Protestants and Jews believe that the souls are "asleep," so there is no sense talking to them, praying to them, or for them. In other words, they are "dead."

Now, we are all Christians in our hearts and our God is a God of life not death. Through His own sacrifice in Flesh, He conquered death, our last enemy, and made it possible for us to live even after we physically die. If we do not believe that the souls are alive, we do not believe in afer-life, the hope that made Christianity's appeal so strong.

Roman documents show that Romans considered Christianity a "dangerous superstition" and that its major appeal was the idea that Christians "cannot die."

Just because we don't see radio waves or understand why gravity exists does not mean they don't or can't. We are not the final arbiters of what is real and what is not, or what is possible and what is not.

Whether valid or not, it certainly cannot hurt to pray for the souls of the departed or to ask for their intercession through prayer on our behalf. The intention is what really counts.

I would be interested in finding out what other's teaching/belief is about the Saints departed from this existence.

Try The Intermediate State for the short answer.

Try State of the Soul After Death by Charles Hodge for the long answer.

For a very brief explanation:

The common Protestant doctrine on this subject is that "the souls of believers are at their death, made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves till the resurrection." According to this view the intermediate state, so far as believers are concerned, is one of perfect freedom from sin and suffering, and of great exaltation and blessedness. This is perfectly consistent with the belief that after the second coming of Christ, and the resurrection of the dead, the state of the soul will be still more exalted and blessed. - Charles Hodge